Oil exported via Baku-Supsa pipeline reaches 1 mln tonnes in 2022

BAKU. Feb 21 (Interfax) - The volume of oil transported via the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline in 2022 reached 1 million tonnes, Azerbaijan's Energy Ministry told Interfax.

In 2021, the volume of oil exported via this 'western' pipeline reached 4.2 million tonnes, the ministry said. This means that last year's figure was a 75% decrease on the previous year.

The pumping of oil through the Baku-Supsa pipeline was stopped in March 2022. Then, from April 1 to April 17, repair and adjustment work was done at the facility, after which the flow resumed, with several subsequent shipments made from the Supsa terminal. Then oil exports via the 'western' route stopped again due to the lack of orders for Azeri Light oil from the Supsa terminal.

Presently, Baku-Supsa is not in use, and the export of Azeri Light Azerbaijani oil is done only via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. However, the facility "is not frozen and is in a state of full readiness to start oil transportation at any moment," BP Azerbaijan has said.

At the same time, during the stoppage of tanker loading operations for Azerbaijani oil at the Ceyhan terminal after two devastating earthquakes in southeast Turkey on February 6, 2023, oil exports through the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline were temporarily resumed, and two tankers were loaded, the company reported.